In the State Parties in Focus blog on Indonesia, we highlight promising practices that Indonesia has undertaken since its ratification of UNCAT in 1998.

Indonesia was among the first 41 States signatories of the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) in December 1984. As one of the Core States of the Convention against Torture Initiative (CTI), which was founded in 2014, Indonesia has taken a leading role in promoting the universal ratification of UNCAT as a key tool in the toolbox of States to better prosecute and punish, prevent and subsequently eradicate torture and other ill-treatment in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Based on Indonesia’s experience in ratifying and implementing UNCAT, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia H.E. Retno L.P. Marsudi, states that:

“We are aware that ratification comes with challenges for full implementation. This is where international cooperation comes to the fore, to assist countries in carrying the Convention into action through training and capacity building of its national institutions and legal officers. In this context, Indonesia sees the importance of peer-to-peer learning, a core principle of CTI as a ‘States for States’ initiative. This is particularly important because there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ formula for the implementation of the Convention.”

Released ahead of the third CTI Regional Seminar hosted by Indonesia titled ‘The UN Convention against Torture: Building robust Preventive Frameworks – the way forward in the Asia-Pacific region’, this blog underlines the existing anti-torture framework, capacity efforts towards more human rights compliant policing and institutional collaborations implemented by the country to bolster its anti-torture efforts.

Read Indonesia’s experience here.